The frequently zany scribblings of a well-rounded man with passionate opinions. Hey, it's better than "Something I put up because I needed to rant before my head exploded."

Thursday, June 14, 2012

THE BIBLE BELIEVER'S HANDBOOK OF TRUTHS

THE BIBLE BELIEVER’S HELPFUL LITTLE HANDBOOK

Apostolic Signs: The apostolic signs are indeed still in effect. They weren’t just for the first-century Jews.

When Jesus talks about the apostolic signs in Mark 16, this is in the context of the great commission, which is for the entire church age.

In Acts, when the snake attached itself to Paul’s hand but he was not harmed, this took place on the island of Malta, where the population wasn’t Jewish.

Christ also said, “and greater works than these shall you do.”

It is people like James Melton Paul talks about in 2 Timothy 3 5 when he says “having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof.”

There have been instances in modern times of people speaking in known human languages they did not have a natural knowledge of. Likewise, there have also been instances of people drinking poison and living.

We are saved by grace through faith, but water baptism is how we get under that grace.

Born Again: This is when a person dies to themselves in repentance, is buried with Jesus Christ through baptism and comes up a new creature.

When the Bible speaks of being born of water, it is not talking about the physical birth from water that all humans experience. When Jesus said in John 3, “unless a man is born of water and the Spirit” he was talking to Nicodemus, a person who was then alive and had been born physically. Really, the teaching that born of water means physical birth is totally stupid. I assume no one who hasn’t been born physically is going to be reading the Bible.

Calvinism: The Bible plainly says God foreknew and predestined the believers, and if you don’t accept that doctrine you are sub-Biblical.

A lot of disagreements over predestination versus free will stem from people not realizing the Bible speaks of things from both God’s perspective and our perspective.

As far as limited atonement (L) is concerned, if God predestined the believers as the Bible plainly says he did, then it follows logically and naturally that Jesus only actually died for the believers predestined to come to Him.

One Point must be made and that is we as humans don’t know who God predestined and who He didn’t. Thus, strictly speaking, it is not wrong to tell a sinner “Jesus died for you” or that Jesus died to pay for “your” (their) specific sins.

Christian: When the disciples were called Christians at Antioch, the word meant “Christ’s men”, or men who were like Christ.

I understand why many people want to refer to themselves these days as “Christ followers”, since the word Christian has gathered such bad conitations through false brethren, hypocrisy and many other horrible things. However, we must keep in mind the original meaning of this word, and truly be like Christ as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 1.

Scripture plainly backs up the preceeding statement in a few places in Hebrews as well as in the parable of the sower. We are also told to “endure unto the end.” This verse is not talking about the tribulation, since it was written 2000 years ago. Rather, it is talking about enduring to the end of our earthly lives.

There is also Paul’s warning, “let every man take heed how he standeth lest he fall.”

Gentile: A Gentile is a member of the ten tribes of Israel which were carried off when Assyria invaded the northern kingdom of Israel about seven centuries before Christ.

Great Tribulation: The great tribulation is actually only three and a half years long. I have outlined the reasons for its length in other posts.

Christians will have to go through the tribulation, but they will not be subject specifically to the judgments, being kept safe on Earth by God. The pretribulation rapture doctrine is totally false and un-Biblical. Most pretribulationists use 1 Thes. 4 to try to prove it, but this is actually quite a noisy passage.

The people we call Jews today will actually be dealt with at the end of the great tribulation when the Lord returns with his saints to slay the wicked.